North Penn Bridge News

Greetings to the

North Penn Bridge Community!

Week of 07/31/2023

From the Club Manager

Dave Dodgson

Tuesday Night Game Time Change. Beginning tonight, August 1, the new start time is 7:00 p.m.

Tea Time. Tea lovers take note: a tea station has been set up beside the microwave on the long the gray cabinet.

Save the Dates. September 18-22. This will be the 50^th Anniversary Celebration Week. Lots of fun is being planned. Stay tuned for details.

Bobbie Gomer Challenge. A new September date for this team game will be announced soon.

Ask The Expert. Be sure to scroll down for details regarding this new feature we are adding.

NAP Flight B Pre-Registration. North Penn is one of the hosts for the NAP Flight B District 4 game on Saturday, September 23. Players are required to register with the club where they plan to play. Early registration is $64; last minute registration is $80. Registration can be made online (see details on our website) or by check made out to the North Penn Bridge Club placed in the red box at the club. Be sure to list your names and ACBL numbers. Many of you have already qualified, so now is the time to register. If you aren’t sure whether you have qualified, you can click here to find out.

August Schedule:

July 31-August 6 is STaC week.
August 7-11 is Club Championship week. The Tuesday Evening and Robot Individual games this week are Silver Linings games and award extra points.
August 16 is the monthly 0-50 game at 9:30am.
August 14-18 is a promotional week for the summer 2025 NABC in Philadelphia. These promotional games award substantial extra points.
August 21-31 are NAP Qualifying games.

Upcoming Tournaments:

August 21-27 is The Baltimore Regional
September 8-10 is The Wilmington Sectional

Education

Shuffle & Deal--.Wednesdays at 9:30 a.m.

Tuesday evenings from 7 to 9 p.m.

2/1 Saturday Class with Lisa Mita at North Penn Bridge Club.

When:-----October 7^th through November 4^th

Time:------9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.

Cost:-----..$125 for five lessons.

------------Or sign up at the club.

New Fall Sunday Beginner Six Session Class with Deb Crisfield.

When:-----September 10^th through October 15^th

Time:------12 noon to 2:00 p.m.

Cost:------.First two lessons FREE! $150 for the last four lessons

------------Cell: 973-769-9619.

Spread the word! If you know of someone who is interested, please have them contact Deb by email at or by phone.

Partnership

To add your name to the player list or to request a partner for a game, please send an email to northpennpartner@gmail.com.

Calendar

Click here to see a file you can enlarge.

Ask the Expert

Here’s your chance to get answers! We have a panel of expert players ready and waiting. Email your questions, or a pesky hand, or something you’d like to know about bidding or playing to Toysie at toysiewalker@gmail.com. She will forward them to the panel, one will be chosen, and the question and answers will be printed in the following week’s newsletter.

We update our Facebook page regularly so be sure to check it out. It’s a great way to stay in touch with all the happenings at North Penn.

Tidbits

“When the opponents bid and support each other and you have the jack or queen of their suit, do not count points for those honors. They are not worth the cardboard they are printed on. Secondary honors may take tricks on defense, but seldom do when you are the declarer.”

From 60 Facts Of Bridge Life (Good Advice to Give Your Partner)

by Eddie Kantar

Deal of the Week

by Mitch Snyder

The Real Value

When you pick up a new hand the first thing you should do is evaluate it for a possible opening bid. Later in the auction you will re-evaluate for a possible overcall, response or advance, taking into account all prior calls.

North’s hand as dealer: A753 KQ74 T JT65

It’s a nice hand but it’s not an opener. South opened 1H in third seat and west made a takeout double. The auction so far:

N--------E--------S--------W

Pass-----Pass----.1H-------Double

Now is the time to re-evaluate. There is a great 4 card fit, a first round control and a second round control in the doubler’s suits. In terms of support points there are 13; 10 hcps and 3 for the singleton (count 3 for a singleton with 4+ card support). The north hand now has opening hand values in support of hearts.

You could choose to bid 4H directly or 4D, a splinter promising 4+ hearts 0-1 diamond. Since you are a passed hand, if you bid 4H partner will expect you to have a weakish, distributional hand and suspect that your call might be highly speculative. 4D is much more descriptive of this hand.

The complete auction:

N--------E--------S--------W

Pass-----Pass----.1H-------Double

4D------.Pass----.4H-------Pass

Pass-----Pass

West has a classic top-of-sequence lead with the king of spades, but may also want to consider leading a trump to reduce dummy’s ruffing power. What would you lead?

Declarer counts 6 losers in the long trump hand. 1S, 3D and 2C. Six, way too many! A spade and 2 club losers seem unavoidable but maybe you can trump 3 diamonds in dummy or set up a club trick and ruff 2 diamonds. The diamond finesse is there too, but only as a last resort.

Setting up a club is not guaranteed but declarer can trump 3 diamonds in dummy if there are 3 hand entries. You can only use one trump for an entry since you want to ruff 3 times, so the ace of diamond and a spade ruff will have to be the others. Also note the strength of the trump suit, making an overruff unlikely as you can use the KQ for ruffing. The preferred line of play is to ruff 3 diamonds.

If west leads the king of spades;

This lead gives you an opportunity to use your best line. If you duck the first trick west can switch to a trump making you use the trump entry prematurely and forcing a switch to plan ‘B’. If west led a trump, same thing. But with a spade lead you can execute plan ‘A’.

Trick:

Win the opening lead
Diamond to the Ace
Ruff a diamond (low)
Lose a spade (timing is everything)
Win likely trump return in hand (the trump lead doesn’t alter your plans now)
Ruff a diamond (high)
Ruff a spade (low, west isn’t out of them)
Ruff last diamond (high)
Concede 2 clubs and claim

If west leads a trump;

You can still make 4H, but the play is not as straight forward as it was with a spade lead. There are many possible twists and turns. Here are 2 possible scenarios.

Trick:

Win the opening trump lead in hand
Low club (west wins with the Q)
West leads another trump; win in hand (note that trumps break 2-2)
9 of clubs (west wins with the K)
Win the spade switch
Lead jack of clubs (Let the ace win pitching the losing spade. This establishes ten of clubs for a diamond pitch).
Claim, ruffing 2 diamonds and throwing one on the ten of clubs.

Trick:

Win the opening trump lead in hand
Low club (west wins with the Q)
West switches to a spade, win in dummy
Low club to 9 and K
West cashes a spade
West leads another trump; win in dummy (note that trumps break 2-2)
Lead jack of clubs, taking a ruffing finesse
If east plays the ace, trump it and return to dummy with diamond ruff to cash the 10.
If east plays low, throw away a diamond.
Claim, trumping any remaining diamonds and/or pitching one on the good 10 of clubs